1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



609 



that it is all nonsense to thump the bottoms out of 

 tin pans and pails, and to shoot, lor the sake of 

 making- a great noise to deafen the bees so they 

 can not hear the " king," as sueh people term the 

 queen. E. S.\r.TSBrnv. 



Ossian, Tnd., Aug. 2.5, 18S."). 



LETTER FBOM GEORGIA. 



HOr,V-l,.\NI) BEK.S ; HONHV-FLANTS ; I>F.RKOa.\TED 



zinc; honey crop. 



R^ no. ROOT:— I have thoroughly tested the Mt. 

 ^B Lebanon strain of Syrian, or Holj'-Land bees, 

 f^ imd T must say that I believe they are the bee 

 ^^ for the South. ] regard them as superior to 

 the Italians in several respects, f. They 

 multiply more rapidly, and swarm less. Their colo- 

 nies are full to overflowing all the time. The Ital- 

 ians here are always swarming during the swarm- 

 ing season. I have known the Holy-Lands to swarm 

 but once. 



:i. They never disturb any one unless they are first 

 disturbed, while a stray Italian is constantly sting- 

 ing somebody, especially when they have a supply 

 of honey on hand. For several years I kept my 

 Italian apiary near my dwelling; but they were 

 constantly stinging the cook, and putting members 

 of the family to flight generally. I was compelled, 

 tln-ough self-defense, to change these to Holy- 

 Lands, and the trouble was over. The Holy-Lands 

 attend to their ov/n business. 



3. They don't dwindle away in the sjiring, like the 

 Italians, but are always strong, healthy, and indus- 

 trious. There is but one objection to the bee. They 

 require more careful handling than the best strains 

 of Italians. In this respect, however, they ditler 

 but little from what we call dark Italians. A veil 

 should be used in manipulating them. 

 . I still keep the Italians in a separate apiary one 

 and a half miles distant, and they are doing well. 

 My choice queen gives me considerably over a 

 hundred pounds of comb honey, and made the most 

 of the comb at that. She is very large, boautiful, 

 yellow, and her progeny well marked. I am just 

 starting an apiary of the albino bees at another 

 one of my farms, and hope by the ^nd of another 

 year to be able to report further. 



nONEY-PT.ANTS. 



The mimosa and all its species is a line honey- 

 plant here, I have seen the bees swarm upon its 

 wide-extended boughs all day long, attended by 

 troupeaof hummingbirds and other honey-gather- 

 ers. You know the sensitive plant belongs to this 

 species. It is also much frequented by the bees. 

 The flowering pear is ,a great favorite with our 

 little friends; and as it blooms early it is very 

 valuable. The virgin's bower, and goldenrod, are 

 now in bloom, and also King Cotton, from which 

 .the bees derive luuch honey. Our best be(!-plants 

 ai-e elm, black gum, poplar, persimmon, goldenrod, 

 hoi'Semint, the clovers, clematis, white elder, cot- 

 .ton, and sourwood, with which our country abounds. 

 Think of that, and add to it the fact that a two- 

 frame nucleus can l)e wintered on the summer 

 stand, without any protection, and tell us why we 

 may not do well at bee culture in Georgia. 



PERFORATED /INC. 



• Italians and Holy-Lands all work well through 



.perforated zinc plates (old style). Where it is not 



used, the queeiv will invade the surplus department. 



Griflid, Ga., Aug. 35, 1885. W. E. H. Searcy. 



I^EPe^fg DigceaR/iGixo. 



W"^. 

 ^o'; 



EPORTS from different quarters are what we 

 ant, either good or bad results. In this vi-. 

 I |yi cinity our report so far is not very flattering. 

 Our bees wintered badly — cause, neglect.. 

 This spring was very backward. The bees 

 did not gather much from early flowers, rarely 

 enough for brood-rearing. White clover came in 

 bloom .lune 1, and for a few days bees gathered 

 honey very fast; then wet weather set in as last 

 year, which made white clover a failure. At pres-. 

 ent the bees are doing something: and I think, as 

 we have had fine rains the last few days, the fall 

 will be a good one. Sometimes the fall season is 

 splendid. Buckbush is just in bloom. Smartweed, 

 Spanish needle, and goldenrod, are to come. 

 Clarksburg, Mo., July 27, 1885. C. H. McFaddix. 



The honey crop for 1885 in Pennsylvania will 

 not be more than one-tenth the average. This is 

 much less than I reported a month since, but it 

 is certainly the truth. 1 see California and other 

 sections also report failure. It would, therefore, 

 be advisable to expect better prices than for 

 many years. S. \V. Morrison. 



Oxford, Pa.. July 2(!, 188.5. 



A LETTER FROM F. W. BURGESS. 



I He Gives Us the Benefit of His Experience on 

 Several Matters. 



REVERSIBLE FRAMES. 



V experience with reversible frames con- 

 Wn vinces me that there are advantages be- 



sides having the combs built to the bottom- 

 bar; but I doubt if it pays, and I doubt if 

 they ever come into general use. I find, 

 with 80 colonies and my oflice work, I have no time 

 to manipulate frames, but, like Heddon, feel the 

 necessity of working hives rather than frames. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



On account of their color f. gave them no favor. 

 They seemed very gentle, and are probably good in 

 other respects, but they will certainly make hybrids 

 resembling a mixture of our common blacks. I 

 want none. 



PERFOR.4.TED ZINC. 



It usually keeps the queen in the lower story, and 

 makes it easier to remove frames for extracting. I 

 should never use it for box honey. I like it for ex- 

 tracting. 



MAKING NUCLEI. 



Uoolittles plcn is first rate; but as I have made 

 mistakes I will tell them. I lost one queen while giv- 

 ing a comb that had eggs and brood in it. I lost 

 another by carelessly giving one with the bees, and 

 1 lost the third by making a nucleus from a hive 

 that was queenless, and contained fertile (?) work- 

 ers, and it is this which might be repeated by others. 



INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS. 



On page 523 of Gleanings, Doolittle says he can 

 take bees from three nuclei, and shake one-third of 

 each into a cage, and thus make three cages of 

 mixed bees which will accept a virgin (pieen; but 

 when he puts them back into theii- hives, five out 

 of six will be killed by bees returning from the 

 field, etc. T would say, put them on a new stand, 

 far enough removed to avoid the returning bees. 



MAKING WAX. 



I melt in a tin kettle half full of water (iron colors 



